The Last Maverick War
by Zennistrad
Summary: The year is 23XX. Fifty years have passed since the Mother Elf was created, putting a halt to the spread of the maverick virus. With maverick assaults having been reduced significantly, the need for a central organization to combat them has ended. But peace is threatened when a new foe soon appears, who seems to know more about X's past than anyone before him...
1. Prologue: the Message from Dr Light

The reploid's legs clanked loudly as he crossed the desert, the harsh winds whipping against his cloak. The hooded robe was the only thing protecting him from the elements as he tirelessly traveled, searching ceaselessly for his objective. With his body having long since fallen into disrepair, he couldn't afford to leave himself exposed for fear that the sand may interfere with his circuits. Besides, the damage that he'd suffered had left his appearance scarred beyond recognition. A machine of his caliber would not let someone to see his face in such condition: his pride would not allow for it.

For hours, he pushed against the inhospitable winds of the barren landscape, searching for any sign of the object that he was looking for. His sensors detected that one was in the geographical area, yet they too had been damaged by many decades of wear, and could no longer pinpoint its exact location. He knew what the objects were capable of: Dr. Light's creation had encountered them many times throughout his travels, each providing invaluable aid to the legendary reploid. Yet despite centuries of observing X, he could never find them himself, as they seemed to be placed only in locations that X alone could reach. But after so many earth-shaping conflicts, the world's geography had changed, and now he would have a chance of his own.

After so long that he'd lost track, with the sun already beginning to dip below the horizon, the hooded reploid finally caught glimpse of something. A tiny glint of metal, sticking out of one of the barren sand dunes. Excitement building within him, he rushed towards the dune and knelt close to the ground, observing the metal part closer.

His sensors began to read more strongly than ever before. There was no mistake, this was what he had been looking for. What he had sought after for centuries. Wasting no time, the hooded reploid reached into the sand and began digging, slowly unearthing the buried find. He didn't care if the sand would damage his circuits anymore; his goal was just within his grasp.

By the time he finished digging, the sun had already set on the arid desert, replacing the sweltering heat and unceasing winds with a cool and tranquil nightfall. His eyes gleamed from beneath his hood as he stared at the treasure he had uncovered: a large blue capsule with a glass cylinder in the center. The reploid grinned as he approached the capsule, reaching out with his arm and placing it on the glass. The capsule let out a gentle hum as it came to life, lights across the top flashing on and off.

Suddenly, the glass began to retract, and a translucent blue image flickered into existence: a hologram of the world-renowned Dr. Light, the father of robotics.

Dr. Light stared at the reploid who awakened him in astonishment. "You... you're still alive?!"

The reploid laughed. "Hello, Light. It's been a long three hundred years, hasn't it?"


	2. A New Face

_"I am more than... Die... !"_

As the first light of the dawn filtered through the window, X's eyes fluttered open, the last memory of his dream fading away into nothingness. The bedroom itself was sparse, with a simple bed and a small table hosting a number of keepsakes, but otherwise completely undecorated. Dust littered the room, and the window by the bedside was covered in a web of cracks, just barely holding together within its frame.

With a sluggish gait, X slowly climbed his way out of the bed, and exited the room, through a rusted metal door that just barely remained attached to its hinges. The room opened out into a metal balcony overseeing the interior of a large warehouse, filled with empty shipping crates covered in cobwebs. The building hadn't been used for its original purpose in decades, not since it was abandoned in the last of the Maverick Wars, but it was the closest thing X had now that he could call a home. He flipped a switch next to the door, and roughly half of the overhead lights embedded in the ceiling flickered to life, the other half long having ceased functionality due to disrepair.

Without even thinking, he repeated his usual routine, climbing down the dilapidated staircase leading to the ground floor. He made his way over to the corner of the warehouse, where a small hose was attached to a faucet on the wall. Turning on the water, he quickly sprayed himself down, not even bothering to remove his helmet as any loose dust that he'd collected over the day quickly washed away from the shower. After less than a minute of hosing himself off, he shut off the water and tossed the hose to the ground. Drying himself off was no longer a priority: the water would evaporate naturally soon enough.

At a leisurely pace, he then walked over to the opposite wall of the warehouse, where a series of targets were painted haphazardly on the wall in red. Standing almost a dozen feet from them, he held out his right arm, his hand quickly retracting as the appendage transformed into his trademark X-buster. He fired a few practice shots at the wall, each of the shots hitting each the targets on the bullseye.

From then on, he continued to perform his weapon exercises, firing regular shots, charged shots, shooting at the targets while running, dashing, jumping, and sliding, performing ever more complicated maneuvers as he practiced. No matter how complex his exercises were, he continued to hit each target dead center almost effortlessly. By now, using his weapon had come as naturally to X as walking on two legs.

Indeed, there was no real need for him to even practice at all. Yet it was the only thing he could think to do with his time now.

After firing one last charged shot, X paused for a moment, breathing heavily. He didn't require oxygen in the same way that humans did; it was merely a way to vent his machinery to prevent it from overheating after a physically intensive task. The exhaustion he felt when overheating, he had guessed, was similar to what a human would feel when out of breath.

As he stood there, X began to ponder his routine. Wake up, practice using his weapon, patrol the warehouse, and go to sleep. This had been every day of his life for the past fifty years, ever since the last of the Maverick Wars. When researchers developing the then cutting-edge cyber elf technology realized that Zero's comatose body contained a possible cure to the Maverick Virus and its variants, they quickly developed a new cyber elf to end the worldwide maverick infections: the Mother Elf.

X's thoughts turned to the fierce battle that the remaining infected mavericks had fought to preserve the virus's existence: even Sigma himself had appeared to preserve his legacy. Many of X's allies had fallen in the ensuing clash, but eventually he emerged victorious, and with the Mother Elf's power eliminated the Maverick Virus worldwide and destroyed the last traces of Sigma's existence.

With the virus gone, the world quickly became peaceful, more than it had ever been since X first awoke in the year 21XX. Any mavericks that appeared were quickly dispatched, and the need for a central Maverick Hunter organization soon disappeared. The Hunters soon disbanded, with stray mavericks easily dealt with by local law enforcement agencies in their stead.

Now, half a century later, X was here. Alone in a warehouse, without purpose or direction. He looked at the wall with a frown, staring at the scorched marks where his buster shots had hit each of the targets. It was a miracle that the wall had managed to endure so much abuse.

"What am I even doing with my life?" X sighed, despite knowing nobody would hear him. "Have I gotten so used to fighting that I can't even think to do anything else? If that's the case, then what am I fighting for?"

X's words were met with silence. He was expecting this, of course, and yet he still found it to be disappointing. An answer to his question would have been nice, no matter how unlikely.

Suddenly, X heard something, nearly jumping in surprise from the sound. The distinctive clanking of metal footsteps against the floor. Another reploid was here. A sudden chill ran down his spine at the thought: he hadn't seen a single soul in this warehouse since he first took residence in it. And the steps were drawing closer.

As the unseen reploid approached, X quickly ducked behind one of the many shipping crates, holding onto his buster. Sure enough, his wireless receivers soon picked up on another reploid presence approaching just beyond the corner.

"Hello?" a young female voice called out, echoing through the building. "Is someone there? I thought I sensed another reploid..."

The tension in X's body loosened slightly. Whoever this reploid was, she didn't sound like much of a threat. In fact, the very idea of another reploid being a threat seemed ridiculous, now that he thought about it. Cautiously, he transformed his buster back into a hand, and came out from behind the crate.

"Hello? No need to be shy, I won't bite- _huh?_ "

As X drew himself out of hiding, he found himself staring face-to-face with a reploid resembling a teenage girl. She wore red armor covering her body that extended outwards in a bell-like shape towards the legs, giving it the appearance of a dress. Her skin was pale and her eyes a bright blue, with her long blonde hair tied back with a green ribbon. X somehow felt a twinge of familiarity at her appearance, despite having never even seen her before.

The female reploid gawked in astonishment. "Are... are you... X?"

"Yeah, that's me. It's been a long time since I've seen anyone else. What's your name?"

"Oh... Oh my goodness, I don't believe it! This is incredible!" she squealed. "I can't believe I'm getting to meet the legendary Maverick Hunter in person! Everyone thought you'd disappeared off the face of the planet! This is so exciting!"

"Hey, calm down," said X. "You didn't answer my question. Who are you?"

"Oh! Um..." The reploid girl took a deep breath, which X found puzzling. Either reploids had gotten _much_ more humanlike in the past fifty years, or she had literally begun to overheat just from meeting him. "Sorry about that," she said, laughing nervously. "Pleased to meet you, the name's Rayl!"

* * *

 **A/N:** **For those wondering, Rayl is pronounced "rail." And yes, she is essentially an expy of Roll from the classic series... we'll see where that goes. ;)**


	3. First Meetings

By now, patrolling the warehouse had become such a well-practiced routine that it had become reflexive. His body ran on autopilot, pacing through the corridors formed by the row of empty crates. He didn't know why he did it, to be honest, but it was something.

Today, however, was different. The female reploid following X around had shaken him loose from the unconsciousness of his routine. He was now acutely aware of every action, every step, every movement. The constant tingling of Rayl's wireless communications channel certainly helped in bringing him back to reality.

"So... what exactly are you doing?" Rayl asked, continuing to follow behind X like a stray animal.

"Daily patrol," said X. "It's something to keep me busy."

"Keep you busy?" said Rayl. "Why? Don't you have anything better to do?"

X stopped in his tracks. Despite lacking the need for breath at the moment, he let out a deep sigh. "No... I don't have anything better to do. I haven't in a long, long time."

"Why not?" Rayl asked, curiously. "I mean, I guess you can't be a Maverick Hunter anymore since they're disbanded, but isn't there something else you can do? What about working with the police?"

"I tried that," said X, turning to look Rayl in the eye. "I... didn't exactly fit in there."

"Oh?" said Rayl.

X leaned against a nearby crate, resting against it on his shoulder. "Well, when you're a legendary Maverick Hunter, people treat you differently than everyone else. My superiors were always either lauding my accomplishments or chastising me for not living up to some mythical version of me that never existed. And the others either idolized me or hated me for stealing the spotlight. Since they didn't really need me now that everything's peaceful, I quit. I've been here ever since."

Rayl raised an eyebrow. "But that's ridiculous! Surely you'd find somewhere nicer to stay, right? And don't you need a job so you can afford to keep yourself fueled? Energy crystals don't grow on trees, you know!"

"Actually, I don't need energy crystals," said X. "My power source isn't like most reploids. It lasts indefinitely without the need to be refueled."

Rayl's jaw dropped. " _Whaaaat!?_ Are you saying your body is a perpetual motion engine!? Th-that's impossible! That literally goes against the very laws of thermodynamics!"

X couldn't help but smirk in amusement. "I'm aware," he said. "Zero's the same way. Researchers have studied our power source for over two centuries and they still haven't figured out what they are or how they work... Well, except Gate, but _that_ didn't end well."

Rayl blinked. "Gate?"

"Long story. The point is, I've got nothing to do and no need to go anywhere else. Everyone I've known was either killed when the infected mavericks launched their final stand against the Mother Elf, or they've moved on with their lives and forgotten about me." X let out a small, bitter laugh at the thought. "Heh... It's kind of funny, isn't it? I've always hated fighting, yet when there's nothing left to fight I don't have anything left to do."

As if to demonstrate his point, held his hand in front of himself, palm facing inward, and transformed it into his X-buster, before transforming it back again. He glanced over at Rayl, who was staring back at him with a look of deep concern.

"So what are you doing here, anyway?" asked X.

"H-huh?" Rayl looked taken aback, as though the question had come completely out of nowhere.

"Yeah. I mean, reploids don't just go looking in abandoned warehouses for no reason. Why did you come here?"

Rayl turned her gaze to the ground, frowning glumly. "I don't have a home to go back to," she said. "I was looking for a place where I could take shelter."

X's eyes widened in surprise. "You're homeless!?"

"Yeah," said Rayl. "I was an assitant in a research laboratory. My creator was a man named Dr. Weil, who built me to aid in his studies."

X's eyes suddenly hardened, a subtle anger briefly flashing across his face. "Dr. Weil..."

"You know him?" said Rayl.

"Unfortunately," X said. "He worked in the laboratory that created the Mother Elf from Zero's body. He was a bloodthirsty fool who'd let thousands of innocent people die before he'd let the Maverick Virus be cured. His only solution to war was even more war."

Rayl stared at X thoughtfully. "So you don't think he's a very good person, huh?"

"Of course not," said X.

"Oh... well, that's good I guess. I... I don't really like him either." Rayl trembled slightly as she spoke, as though she were afraid to admit it.

"Why?" said X. "What happened?"

Rayl said nothing, closing her eyes tightly. She looked as though she were suddenly about to cry.

X's eyes widened as comprehension began to dawn on him. "Oh my God... What did he do to you?"

"I... I... I-I disagreed with some of his research," Rayl whimpered. "H-he started experimenting with dead reploids to revive them as mindless weapons for the police... I told him I didn't like the idea of desecrating their bodies like that. H-he... he then threw me out on the street and said if I ever showed my face again, he'd report me as a maverick."

X grimaced, his face contorting into an image of righteous anger. "That bastard... even after all this time, he hasn't changed one bit." He closed his eyes and took a moment to compose himself, unconsciously emulating a human taking a deep breath.

With his head clear, X approached Rayl and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry about him for now," he said. "If you need a place to stay, I'll be happy to let you stay here for a while. I don't have much but I'll try to accommodate you as best I can."

Rayl stared up at X, looking him straight in the eye. "Really? You'd do that for me?"

X smiled warmly. "Of course. I'm not going to turn my back on someone in need. I don't have any energy crystals, but I can probably find some without a problem. Maybe now I'll actually have a reason to get a job."

Without even hesitating, Rayl quickly pulled X into a tight hug. "Oh my gosh, thank you so much! You really _are_ a hero!"

X suddenly felt his machinery heating rapidly, and a red flush appeared on his face. "H-hey, don't mention it. It's nothing, really."

* * *

Rain pattering against cold metal. The howl of the wind as it whipped at his cloak. The crackling of thunder that followed the flashes of lightning in the sky. These sounds filled the hooded reploid's ears as he traveled across the city in silence, tirelessly pursuing his next goal. As the storm raged and he wove his way through the streets, the bright and gleaming skyscrapers gave way to old and dirty buildings, lit up by the flickering street lights that dotted the shadier districts of every major city on Earth.

Eventually, after hours of navigating the stormy metropolis, he had found his destination. Turning into an alley between two decrepit condominiums, he saw a door on the side of one of the buildings that emitted a promising glow. He approached the door and let out a carefully-calculated pattern of knocks, and the door responded in kind, opened by a reploid bouncer of imposing stature.

The interior of the room was much nicer than it had any right to be for its location: a brightly-lit venue with engraved wooden tables and cushioned booths, a large chandelier, and multiple paintings on the walls. In the center of the venue was a bar, where a number of reploids sat, consuming brightly-colored crystals of a number of different shapes and sizes. The hooded reploid took comfort in the familiarity: this bar had long been a place for dealing in rare variations of energy crystals, many of them illegally modified, and little here had changed over the past century. But exotic energy crystals were not what he was here for: through his frequent visitations he had taken notice of something far more interesting.

In the corner of his eye, he could see a reploid resembling an animal entering a wooden door near the back corner. Non-humanoid reploids were a rarity, and alone their presence would draw his attention, but he knew that this was not the only one. There were eight animal reploids total that he'd regularly witnessed entering into the other room, to meet with each other in private.

The hooded reploid grinned. Eight reploids, all of them animals. He knew the pattern by now, and history, as they said, had a tendency to repeat itself. If his intuition was right, this was exactly the opportunity he needed. He glanced around at the room before proceeding, ensuring that the other reploids were too distracted or too intoxicated by illicit crystals to pay attention to him as he made his way over to the door and entered inside.

The room, as he soon saw, was a small storeroom, filled with shelves and boxes of energy crystals. Within the center of the room stood the animal reploids, engaging in a heated discussion with one another. They didn't even seem to notice his presence. _Good_ , he thought.

Standing in the center was the first of them, the only female of the group. She was roughly human in shape, save for her head. Her face was blue and similar to that of a fish, with a pair of gills on either side of her neck, and a massive pair of heavy iron jaws. A long red ponytail protruded from the back of her head, and a steel plate was bolted over her left eye. From the neck down, the rest of her body was entirely covered in jet-black armor. From the confident manner in which she stood before the others, it appeared as though she was the leader.

Standing to the right of her was a reploid with a head resembling a white rabbit. His ears, unusually, were not like normal rabbit ears, but were made of thin blue flames which emanated from a pair of laboratory burners on the top of his head. His body was red with orange highlights, with white armor that resembled a lab coat.

The third reploid stood especially close to the white rabbit. He was a fearsome beast, with a bipedal body, the wings of a bat, the head of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion, and a buster weapon on his right arm. His entire body from head to toe was a brilliant chrome, gleaming visibly even in the storeroom's soft light.

Aside both the beast and the rabbit was a pangolin reploid, with a light purple underbelly and grey scales covering his back. While he stood on two legs, his posture was far less upright than a typical bipedal reploid, slouched over with his head far below the arch of his back.

To the left of the fish-woman reploid were three more reploids: one of them was a spider maverick that stood upright on two legs, with two large arms sprouting from his shoulders and four additional smaller arms from his torso. His entire body was colored yellow and black, similar to the colors of a golden orb weaver.

Another reploid had the head of a horse, with blueish-white hair and a dark blue mane. He possessed blue armor with bright yellow highlights and a buster on his right arm. A pair of feathered wings sprouted from the back of his armor, the same bluish-white color as his head.

Finally, there was a massive reploid resembling a large polar bear, with blue-and-gold armor and a pair of massive, clawed gauntlets.

Suddenly, the hooded reploid felt uneasy. Something wasn't right here. There was supposed to be another one. A raccoon, dressed in sleek black-and-grey armor, and carrying the hilt of a beam saber. What could have happened to him?

His concerns were answered when the reploid felt himself being forcefully seized from behind. A powerful arm wrapped around his torso, and the blood-red glow of a short, straight-edged blade pressed against his neck, the energy beginning to burn through the brown fabric of his cloak. One wrong move and he would be dead, he realized.

"An intruder!" The fish-woman said. "Good catch, Rakunai!" She gave a menacing grin, and stared at the hooded reploid intensely. She extended her hand, and a miasma of teal blue plasma materialized, shaping itself into a spear that she pointed at the hooded reploid's face. "Why don't we take off that cloak and see who you _really_ are? Some sort of undercover cop, I bet!"

"W-wait!" the hooded reploid desperately pleaded. "I'm not your enemy! I want to help you!"

"Like hell you do!"

"Calm yourself, Placoderm," said the rabbit. "We don't know if his intentions are honest. If we act rashly we could wind up hurting an innocent reploid."

The spear in the fish-woman's hand dissipated. "Hmph. I suppose you may have a point there, Burnie."

The rabbit's eye twitched annoyance. "For the last time, my name is- ah, nevermind. I believe that we should hear him out, for now. If he plans to report back to the police, we will not allow him that opportunity. This room is soundproof and scrambles all wireless channels, so it will be impossible for him to communicate to anyone outside."

"Alright, fine," the fish-woman begrudgingly admitted. "Let him go, Rakunai."

The racoon's energy blade retreated into its hilt as he released the hooded reploid, who crashed to the ground. As he crawled to his knees, he found himself staring eye-to-eye with the fearsome woman before him.

"Talk," the fish-woman said curtly.

"Right, of course," the hooded reploid hastily replied. "So... I take it the eight of you are planning on starting a rebellion against humanity?"

"And what do _you_ know what we're planning?" the fish-woman demanded.

The hooded reploid grinned, flashing his teeth from beneath his cloak. "Come on now. Eight non-humanoid reploids turning maverick together? It's not like it hasn't happened before. Honestly, I'm actually surprised I'm the only one who's caught on so far."

"H-hey!" the lion-headed beast exclaimed. "Who says we're mavericks!?"

"'Maverick' is just a word for a reploid that doesn't act like a _slave_ to humans," the fish-woman sneered.

The hooded reploid chuckled lightly. "Oh, I agree. That's precisely why I want to join you. But I'll tell you right now that you won't make it very far the way you are now. You've overlooked a crucial piece of information."

"Oh, really?" the rabbit asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that I have somehow miscalculated our odds of success? Because I can assure you that I have left no room for error."

The hooded reploid's grin widened. "So you know that the one you call 'X' is still alive, then?"

The room suddenly fell deathly silent. The other reploids simply stared at the hooded figure in disbelief.

"That's... that's impossible!" said the fish-woman. The fear in her remaining eye was the first time the hooded reploid had seen her with anything other than unshakable confidence. "X disappeared half a century ago!"

"It's true," said the hooded reploid. "And you won't be able to defeat the legendary Maverick Hunter on your own. You know his power as much as anyone."

"Oh dear..." the rabbit worried aloud. "If this is true, I may have committed a grave oversight..."

"No shit!" said the fish-woman.

"Easy now," said the hooded reploid. "You may have a powerful foe, but you're not without a chance. I know of someone who'll be able to help you."

The hooded reploid reached across his body and pushed a button on his left arm. All of a sudden, there was a flash of light, and the other reploids in the room jumped back in shock as a large blue capsule teleported into the storeroom.

"Ngah! Burnie, I thought you said this room was teleport-locked!" exclaimed the fish-woman.

"I-it is!" the rabbit frantically replied, fiddling with a series of buttons on his arm. "I don't understand! I've protected against every teleport protocol there is! There's no way, unless..."

"Unless _what?_ "

"T-there is _one_ teleport protocol I haven't accounted for," said the rabbit, desperately trying to calm the reploids' now-furious leader. "But it hasn't been used in _centuries!_ "

"Heh... Ha! Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha! _Ha ha ha ha ha!_ " The hooded reploid burst into uncontrollable laughter, the sound reverberating throughout the room. As he laughed he began to hover into the air, and a purple aura enveloped his body, seeming to suck all other light out of the enclosed space as it filled the room with its sickly glow.

The other reploids looked at the hooded figure in fear.

"Who..." the fish-woman stammered, " _What_ are you?"

"I," said the hooded reploid, "am the most powerful robot to have ever lived."


	4. The Hero's Name

The hooded reploid's grin glinted in the storeroom's dim light, illuminated slightly further by the gentle blue glow of the hologram standing before him. The translucent image of Doctor Light simply stared back, frowning deeply. The other reploids stood a good distance away from both of them, staring wide-eyed at the legendary roboticist.

"So that's your plan?" said Doctor Light. "And what exactly gave you the delusion that I would cooperate?"

The hooded reploid chuckled. "Oh ho... I don't think it'd be a good idea for you to disobey me, old man. My body may be obsolete, but I'm still more than capable of blasting you to smithereens!"

"Go right ahead," the hologram retorted. "The real Doctor Light died a long time ago. This capsule is nothing more than a memory of my former self. I fear nothing you could possibly do to me."

The hooded reploid's grin vanished in an instant. "What!? Y-you _dare_ defy me!?" he shouted, stomping his foot forcefully against the floorboard. "No! No no no no no no _no!_ Do you have any _idea_ how long I've waited for this moment!? I've already suffered enough humiliation as it is! _I won't let you do this to me!_ "

Doctor Light gave a sly smirk. "I see you haven't gotten any better at thinking things through."

" _Shut up! I'll show you!_ " The hooded reploid screamed. He held out his arm, which promptly transformed into a decrepit buster weapon, greying and speckled with rust.

"Ah- _hem_ ", the rabbit reploid suddenly interrupted. "I would hate to intrude on such a meaningful conversation, but I believe I have a solution to the problem."

The hooded reploid paused. Slowly, he lowered his buster, though the tension in his body still remained. "...Go on."

"You see," said the rabbit, "I've done a preliminary scan on this capsule. While it appears to have some form of artificial intelligence, it is still rather primitive. It is capable of making its own decisions, but does not possess the same capacity for free choice that a reploid does. Reprogramming it to be obedient to us would be a simple task."

Doctor Light's hologram froze, eyes wide. The hooded reploid's grin returned, wider than ever before.

" _Eh hee hee_..." he giggled. "Finally, I will have my revenge!"

* * *

The door to X's bedroom opened with a slow creak, and the blue reploid entered, holding the door open as Rayl followed behind him.

"This is where I sleep," said X. "You can use my bed until we find a better place for you."

"Um... thanks?" said Rayl.

X rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know it's not too glamorous, but it's the best I've got."

"Huh? No, i-it's not that!" Rayl replied. "I just... well, if I'm in your bed, where are you going to sleep?"

"Somewhere else in the warehouse, probably," X shrugged. "It's no big deal."

"If you say so..." Rayl's words trailed off, her eyes averting X's gaze. Her attention was soon drawn to the table beside the bed. "Hey, what's this?"

Rayl picked up a small picture frame that was set atop the table, taking a closer look. Inside the frame was a printed photograph of three reploids: X, Zero, and Axl. Zero was pictured glaring in indignation at Axl, who was making a pair of bunny-ears with his fingers behind Zero's head. X stood off to the side, barely containing his own laughter.

Rayl placed her finger over the photograph, wiping off the dust that had collected on the surface. "Are these...?"

"My friends," said X. "They're gone now. Zero's been in stasis for who knows how long, and Axl..." X trailed off as the painful memory returned to him.

"He was killed in the Last Maverick War, right?" said Rayl. "That's what I'd heard, at least."

X let out a weary sigh. "Yeah... But most people don't know the full story. I was forced to kill him myself."

" _Wha?_ " Rayl gasped. "You mean... he went maverick?"

"It's a little more complicated than that," said X. "Unknown to any of us, an old foe had implanted his consciousness in Axl's body. When the Mother Elf was awakened, he overwrote Axl's mind and tried to stop us." X closed his eyes, frowning somberly. "By the time I ended up fighting him, Axl was already gone."

"Oh my God..." said Rayl, her voice a whisper. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," said X somberly. "I've lost a lot of friends, but... you get used to it eventually."

Rayl set down the picture frame on the table. She took notice of another object next to it, a cylindrical item with a grip meant for holding, a circular opening in one end, and a small switch near the top.

"Hey, what's this?" said Rayl, reaching for the object.

" _Don't touch that!_ " X shouted. Rayl recoiled instinctively from the sudden outburst, drawing her hand back.

"Sorry," said X. "What you were about to grab is something very special to me." He walked over to the table and reached for the cylinder, picking it up in his hand. "This here is none other than Zero's saber. He gave it to me as a parting gift."

"Wow!" said Rayl. " _This_ is the Z-Saber? That's so cool!"

"Yeah..." said X. His voice trailed off, leaving a long period of silence between the two of them.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"No, it's fine," X interrupted. "Anyway, you've pretty much seen the whole warehouse by now, haven't you? Aside from this room and the main storage, there isn't really anywhere else."

"Yeah, I guess," said Rayl. "Why?"

"Well, I was wondering... If you're going to be staying here, you'll need energy crystals, won't you?" said X. "So how about we head out into town and look for a job?"

Rayl's jaw dropped. "Wha- a _job?_ Now hold on a minute! Are you saying you're just going to go out in public fifty years after everyone thought you'd vanished off the face of the Earth? Do you have any idea what kind of ruckus you'd cause if you were seen? What are you going to do, just waltz in somplace and say 'hey, I'm the legendary maverick hunter and progenitor of all reploids, Mega Man X, give me something to do?'"

"Relax," X said with a smile. "They won't know it's me. Nobody aside from Zero knows this, but what you're seeing here isn't what I actually look like."

"Huh?" said Rayl. "What do you mean?"

"Many reploids have metal armor permanently attached to their heads, covering everything except the face," said X. "But mine isn't permanently attached. It's a helmet."

Slowly, X gripped the sides of the of his head. There was a soft _click_ as something gave, and sure enough, his blue helmet opened up on the underside, just below his chin. X lifted the helmet off of his head and placed it on the table beside his bed, revealing a full head of black hair.

Rayl gaped, staring at X in astonished silence.

"Surprised?" X teased. "I guess that's perfectly understandable. Now then, if I'm going to be going out like this, I'll need an alias..."

X placed his hand on his chin, stroking it thoughtfully. Many possible names passed through his mind, but they all seemed either strange, unfitting, or just plain wrong. Soon enough, however, he'd imagined a name that he immediately took a liking to, a name that felt so fitting it seemed like it was almost made just for him.

"I know," said X. "How about... Rock?"


	5. Schwerer

It had been a long time since X had seen the daylight. This fact was made immediately apparent by the blinding brightness as he stepped out of the warehouse, the door nearly falling off of its hinges as he pushed it open. Streams of sunlight poured through the grayed clouds overhead, cascading over the decrepit building.

As his eyes adjusted to the light, X glanced around to survey the surroundings. The warehouse had remained in disrepair just as it had been before, but the fifty years of abandonment let forces of nature make their presence known to a much greater degree. The ramshackle wire fences were now rusted and covered in vines, and the small paved road leading to the facility was cracked and sun-bleached, patches of grass growing through the crevices. Everywhere else, wild grass grew to heights not seen in most of the developed world. Small puddles had formed in natural depressions in the ground, and the entire landscape was coated in a thin layer of rainwater.

X looked out at the entryway, out to where it joined with a much larger highway, blocked off by a dilapidated road gate. From there the highway headed north, towards the gleaming spires of Neo Abel City, still visible on the horizon from miles away.

It didn't take long for him to make his way over to the gate, jumping easily over it and onto the side of the larger interstate. He then turned around and reached over the entrance, helping Rayl climb over the gate to meet him.

"It's quite a way to the city…" said Rayl.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," X replied. "Just remember, my name is Rock now. Got that?"

Rayl nodded. "Rock… understood."

* * *

Without another word, the two reploids made their way down the side of the road, slowly advancing towards the distant metropolis.

It had been several hours since the hooded reploid's arrival in the meeting room. So far, the others had given little objection to his plan… aside from the spear-toting fish and the flame-eared leporid scientist, they rarely seemed to speak up at all. Even the polar bear's multiple attempts at boasting seemed fairly understated compared to the apparent size of his ego.

He grinned to himself as the others began to disperse, leaving the room one-by-one in long intervals so as to avoid arousing suspicion.

 _So they're just a bunch of lackeys, then. They claim to want freedom, yet choose to blindly obey. How ironic._

Eventually, only the rabbit and the fish remained. The scientist frowned, and turned to face the Light Capsule, now sitting dormant in the center of the room.

"You escort our guest to the headquarters, Placoderm" he said. "I will see to it that this… hologram is reprogrammed and safely returned to our base."

"I don't know about this, Burnie. I still don't see why we should let this guy waltz in and take charge of everything," the fish replied. "We still don't even know what his deal is! Isn't that right, _Schwerer?_ "

Schwerer flinched at the accusatory finger that was suddenly pointed straight at his face. Before he could respond, the rabbit spoke up.

"My name is _Burner Bunnison_ , Placoderm. Bunnison will suffice, but I refuse to be called by such immature nicknames."

"Whatever! The point is, we don't know if we can trust this guy!"

"I'm here for the same reasons you are," 'Schwerer' responded. It was a name he'd come up with in the heat of the moment, based on a figment of obscure knowledge, yet he'd already grown fond of it. "I've grown tired of the way I've been treated by humanity. Thrown into the garbage and forgotten like an old appliance."

"That doesn't explain how the hell did you manage to find an A.I. replica of _the_ Doctor Light!" the fish-woman countered. "Or why he acted like he knew you _personally!_ "

"I'm a robot of many talents," Schwerer answered. "And I know that my plan is the only plan you have. You wouldn't be meeting in an old dive bar unless you were desperate. And you _certainly_ wouldn't be able to defeat Mega Man with such little preparation."

Burner Bunnison sighed. "He is correct, sadly. Despite his disappearance, X has never been officially declared dead. We know he can survive indefinitely without fuel, and we know that reploids far more powerful than us have failed to kill him. We were foolish to ever assume he had died."

"Yeah, but he _could_ have!" Placoderm shouted back. "We don't know if he's alive or not! What if Schwerer's just talking out of his ass?"

"Is that really a risk that you want to take?" said Schwerer. "If he were alive, do you think that you would stand even the slightest chance of survival on your own?"

The fish-reploid's remaining eye narrowed, her glare laser-focused as though trying to pierce through Schwerer's hood. Finally, she begrudgingly relented.

"Follow me," she said, turning towards the door. "And try not to draw attention to yourself."

* * *

It had been almost two hours since X and Rayl had begun their journey along the road. The clouds overhead had already begun to clear, leaving the clear blue skies unobstructed.

X looked back at Rayl, who simply trudged along, staring at the ground. He frowned, realizing that Rayl hadn't spoken at all since they left the warehouse.

"So… Rayl," he spoke, breaking the silence.

Rayl let out a squeak, jumping back at the sudden noise. "Ah! Sorry… you startled me."

X shook his head. "No need to apologize, it's my bad."

"Was there something you were going to say to me?" said Rayl.

"Er… yeah. I was just wondering, what were you going to do before I met you?" X replied.

"Huh?" said Rayl. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… I can't blame you for running away from Weil," said X. "But what were you going to do to take care of yourself?"

Rayl bowed her head. "Oh… that. I… I was hoping I could run away to Arcadia."

X raised an eyebrow. "Arcadia? You mean Giga City?"

"Um… yes?" said Rayl. "That's what they used to call it, right? I'd heard it was an entire city of reploids, entirely free from human influence."

"Well, it is, but…"

"But what?"

"I'd hate to break it to you, but your plan wouldn't work," X replied flatly.

Rayl suddenly went wide-eyed. She dug her heels into the ground, coming to an abrupt halt. " _What!?_ But… but… Why not!?"

X sighed, stopping to address his companion. "Because one," he counted off with his finger, "Arcadia is thousands of miles away. Two, it's in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. And three, you couldn't get in even if you managed to make it that far."

"What, do you think I'm not strong enough to make it in?" Rayl huffed.

X threw up his hands. "What? No! I-I'm not saying that at all!"

"Then what's so hard about getting into a city?" Rayl said. "Sure, it may be in the middle of the ocean, but I'd find a way!"

"Because the whole city is completely sealed off," X responded. "They surrounded the entire thing with an impenetrable dome during the Last Maverick War, to prevent the Sigma Virus from reaching them. Nothing goes in, and nothing goes out."

Rayl looked down and away from X. "Oh…"

X gently placed a hand on Rayl. "Hey. Look at me."

"Huh?"

X looked down, meeting his companion's gaze with a warm smile. "Don't worry about Arcadia. We'll find a way to make out a living for ourselves. Everything's going to be okay."

"Promise?" said Rayl.

"Promise. Now come on, let's get moving. If we keep walking we can make it to the city before nightfall."

Rayl nodded, and the two reploids continued on their journey, towards the shining metropolis in the distance.


End file.
